Book III · Hymn 43 · Faith a New and Comprehensive Sense

John Newton

Faith a new and comprehensive sense.
Sight, hearing, feeling, taste and smell,
Are gifts we highly prize;
But faith does singly each excel,
And all the five comprise.
More piercing than the eagle's flight
It views the world unknown;
Surveys the glorious realms of light,
And Jesus on the throne.
It hears the mighty voice of God,
And ponders what he saith
His word and works, his gifts and rod,
Have each a voice to faith.

It feels the touch of heavenly pow'r,
Lk 8:46

And from that boundless source,
Derives fresh vigor every hour,
To run its daily course.
The truth and goodness of the Lord,

Are suited to its taste
Ps 119:103

Mean is the worldling's pampered board,

To faith's perpetual feast.

It smells the dear Redeemer's name

Like ointment poured forth;
SS 1:3

Faith only knows or can proclaim,
Its favor or its worth.
Till saving faith possess the mind,
In vain of sense we boast;
We are but senseless, tasteless, blind,

And deaf, and dead, and lost.